In a new note today Huberty expands on what she thinks iOS 7’s killer feature will be and talks about how Apple’s hiring plans tip the preparations for iRadio.

iOS 7 could bring iRadio and Mobile payments to the iPhone 5S according to a recent analyst note.

Huberty’s note, shared in part on Apple Insider, explains how iRadio might work. iRadio is the current nickname given to an Apple streaming music service, the likes of which would compete with Pandora and Spotify. iRadio may offer better integration with the iPhone, such as Siri control over stations and the ability to use Siri Eyes-Free to control the iRadio stations in a car.

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According to Huberty, “Apple could offer a streaming music service using a freemium model.” This would allow Apple to let users try out the service and listen to a limited amount of music with ads, and power users could upgrade to unlock other features and remove ads.

In the note, Huberty points to Apple’s hiring of Kevin Lynch, who has experience with subscription based services, as a sign that Apple is close to bringing a subscription music service to the masses.

On top of the iRadio details, Huberty also reiterated that the iOS 7 killer feature could be a mobile payment platform. Apple already offers Passbook with tickets and loyalty cards, but the iPhone 5S could take things further by combining a mobile payment feature which she believes Apple will launch with iOS 7. The iPhone 5S may include a fingerprint reader which could increase security and an NFC chip to handle mobile payments, but these rumors are disputed between analyst predictions and supply chain sources.

Apple is likely planning WWDC 2013 for mid-June and even with delays we should see a preview of IOS 7 and soon after we may even see a developer iOS 7 beta arrive. The iPhone 5S launch and release is rumored for summer or fall, though it may face delays until later in the year.

Josh Smith is Editor of GottaBeMobile and Notebooks.com. He's always looking for ways to help you get the most of your gear and loves to talk about tech on radio and TV. Josh uses an iOS and Android devices as well as Mac and Windows Computers. Josh Smith on Google+
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